


father's day

by unwieldyink



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, Solangelo Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24854905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwieldyink/pseuds/unwieldyink
Summary: What would Nico even get his father, anyways? He couldn’t imagine that the Lord of the Dead would appreciate a Starbucks gift card.Solangelo Week day 1- Father's Day(except this isn't even solangelo whoops)
Relationships: Hades & Hazel Levesque, Nico di Angelo & Hades, Nico di Angelo & Hazel Levesque
Comments: 5
Kudos: 112
Collections: Solangelo Week 2020





	father's day

Mother’s day was an awkward day at Camp Half-Blood. Nico had seen that firsthand just last month. The camp was quieter than usual, with demigods scurrying around casting anxious glances at the sky. Everyone had, at one time or another, imagined an angry god or goddess descending from the heavens to chew out their children for being ungrateful. Never mind that it had never actually happened. The possibility of it was enough to get people jumping at every shadow.

It was also an awkward day because mortals who had children with gods didn’t have a very good track record for surviving. If a demigod wasn’t nervously twiddling their thumbs awaiting a scolding from the heavens on Mother’s day, they were usually grieving a dead mortal parent instead. And those who were lucky enough to have living parents to appreciate tended to read the room, and keep their heartfelt letters to their mothers to themselves.

Nico assumed that nearly the same thing was happening at Camp Half-Blood today, Father’s day. The same awkward eye contact. The same quiet grief. The same frantic whispered prayers into the fire. But today, he wasn’t around to see it.

Because today, he was standing at the grand front doors to Hades’ palace.

“Nico di Angelo,” he told the skeleton guards flanking the doors. “Prince of the Underworld. I want to see my father.”

In reality, Nico didn’t really want to talk to Hades. He would much rather have been making a friendship bracelet or something at Camp Half-Blood than here visiting his father. But one doesn’t tend to ignore an invitation from the Lord of the Dead, especially if that invitation was delivered by a dead eyed zombie hovering inches from your face at four o’clock in the morning. So, when the sun had risen, Nico scribbled out a note for anyone who might have come looking for him, and then shadow traveled to the Underworld.

Nico still didn’t really know what to expect, even as the skeleton guards opened the tall doors and Nico stepped into the obsidian halls of his father’s palace. The zombie had simply told him: “Lord Hades invites you, Nico di Angelo, to spend Father’s day with him in the Underworld.” Was the choice of Father’s day incidental? Was Nico here to run errands for his father again, as was the case when he usually was summoned? Or did Hades just want to spend time with him? Nico hoped he wasn’t supposed to bring a gift. He patted his empty pockets, even though he knew he wouldn’t find anything.

What would he even get his father, anyways? He couldn’t imagine that the Lord of the Dead would appreciate a Starbucks gift card.

Nico walked through the long, dark hallways, making his way to the throne room in a path he had memorized by heart. He nodded to the guards at the set of doors leading to the throne room. He didn’t have to introduce himself here. They knew who he was.

The first person Nico saw when the doors opened was certainly not someone he expected. Hazel was standing at the base of Hades’ (Pluto’s?) throne. She looked like she’d been in a conversation with their father, but she turned to look when the doors opened. Her face brightened as soon as she saw Nico, which filled him with conflicting feelings. On the one hand, it was sweet that Hazel was happy to see him. On the other hand, if she was  _ that _ happy to see him, things might not have been going so smoothly between her and Pluto.

“Hazel,” Nico said when he overcame his surprise. “Uh, hi. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Hey, Nico. Yeah, Dad invited me, too.” Hazel’s voice sounded cheery enough to an outside listener, but Nico knew his sister too well for that. She was just as thrilled to be here as Nico was. Which is to say, not at all.

“Yes,” their father said from his throne. “I wanted to bring both of my children here today.”

Nico directed his attention to the god sitting on the massive throne. Hades and Pluto looked nearly identical, but Persephone and Proserpina differed in style of dress and choice of flowers. Unfortunately, it was June, so Persephone/Proserpina was in the upper world, leaving Nico no choice but to squint at his father to determine who he was at the moment. His beard was shorter than Pluto’s, his hair a little longer. Greek, then.

“Hello, Father,” Nico said. “I got your message. I didn’t know you were such an early bird, by the way.”

Hades shrugged. “Yes, my apologies about that. I don’t usually keep track of what time it is in the upper world. I didn’t realize how late-- or rather, early-- it was when I sent the messengers.”

“Scared the rest of my cohort half to death,” Hazel muttered.

“Scared  _ me _ half to death,” Nico said back, quietly enough so that Hades wouldn’t hear. Hazel hid a smile.

“Well,” Hades said, ignoring their asides. “I suppose there’s nothing left to do but begin, then.”

“Begin what, exactly?” Nico asked.

“Spending the day together, of course. For Father’s day.”

Nico shared a look with Hazel.  _ I know _ , her face said.  _ Trust me, I know. _

“Just… spend the day together?” Nico asked. Was Hades really trying to make them like a mortal family for a day? What were they going to do? Play catch in Persephone’s garden? Go fishing in the river Styx?

Hades scowled at Nico. “Yes. Is that really so unusual?”

“I guess not,” Nico said. “It’s just… what are we going to… you know… do?”

Hades settled back into his throne, making himself comfortable. “Well, I was thinking I could start by showing you how things are really run down here.”

Was this really going to turn into a take your child to work day? Was that really what Hades wanted? It sounded surreal. And also very boring. Nico suppressed a groan.

Still, it wasn’t like they could refuse. So Hazel and Nico took their seats on either side of Hades, and waited to watch him work.

Luckily, they didn’t have to wait too long. A few minutes later, an undead general came into the throne room in a panic. He informed Hades that a soul from the fields of punishment had escaped, and if he made it back to the mortal world, he could wreak havoc.

Hazel must have been dreading spending all day seated at their father’s side just as much as Nico was, because she jumped at the opportunity. “Father, we can go handle that if you want us to,” she told Hades.

“Well, but…” Hades’ brows furrowed. “I wanted you to see what things are really like down here…”

“But catching escaped souls is part of your job, too, right?” Nico asked. “That’s why you always make me do it. So we’ll still be seeing what your job is like, just in a different way.”

“Well… I suppose you two will have a higher chance of succeeding than my guards. Very well. But I want you back here by dinnertime.”

“Of course, father,” Hazel said. It occurred to Nico that they had no way of telling the time down here, but he just nodded.

As soon as they slipped out of the castle gates, Hazel stepped closer to Nico to whisper to him.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said. “He doesn’t talk to me for years, claims it’s so he doesn’t have to bring my soul back to the Underworld again, but now all of a sudden out of nowhere he invites me down here for some family bonding day?” Hazel stopped. “Wait. You don’t think that’s what he’s doing, do you? Bringing me down here so I can be returned to Asphodel?”

There was an unspoken end to her sentence.  _...so I can be returned to Asphodel, where I belong _ . The sentiment unsettled Nico. “Why would he bring me, then?” Nico asked. “And besides, he did this with me, too. He hated me for years. Or that’s what I thought, anyways. He said he wished I had died instead of Bianca. He called me a failure in, like, every other sentence. Then one day during our quest to bring the Athena Parthenos back, he showed up acting super nice and offering me a special place in the Underworld if I died. He even joked around with me, in his own way. It was the most bizarre thing.”

“He certainly is a weird one,” Hazel agreed.

The mission was, by Nico’s standards, routine. His father sent him out to round up escaped souls all the time. Even some of the most dangerous mortals were, on their own, no match for Nico or Hazel, and especially not when they worked together. In no time at all, the murderous soul was returned to the skeleton guards and Nico and Hazel were walking back to the castle.

“You know,” Nico said. “Despite the circumstances, that was sort of fun. We should hang out more often.”

“It’s almost easier to meet here than in the upper world,” Hazel replied, grinning. “Maybe we can get dad in on the fun.”

Nico laughed. “Maybe.”

When the two siblings returned to the looming black castle, the guards informed them that Hades was waiting for them in Persephone’s garden.

A grand dining table was spread among the jewel flowers, decked out with gold plates and utensils, as well as various centerpieces made out of gems and precious metals.

“Wow,” Hazel said. “Y’know, I never thought I’d describe dad as  _ gaudy _ , but…”

“Hey, at least he’s trying.”

Luckily, it seemed that Hades has placed Nico and Hazel’s seats next to each other. They slipped into them, sitting opposite of their father, and reported back on the mission. He nodded along, but seemed uninterested in the details. Instead, as skeletal servants brought out platters and platters of food, Hades began prodding his children on their personal lives.

“So, Hazel, you’ve been promoted to praetor of Camp Jupiter now, yes?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah. When Reyna left…” Hazel’s eyes flicked over to Nico. She knew Reyna’s hunter status was a sore subject with him. “Well, they nominated me unanimously. It was pretty nice.” She smiled into her fork.

Hades nodded solemnly. “And Nico, you’ve been interacting with leadership at Camp Half-Blood, too, haven’t you?”

“I guess.” Nico reached for his glass of water. “I mean, I go to the counselor meetings, so…”

“And you have a boyfriend now, don’t you?”

Nico choked on his drink. He hadn’t told Hades anything about Will. How did his father know? Had he been watching Nico? The thought made his cheeks burn.

“U-Uh, yeah?” Nico ignored the way his voice cracked. “I mean, um… yeah.”

Hazel was snickering behind her hand. Nico nudged her.

“How is that going?” Hades asked. It was casual enough, but still, Nico almost melted into the shadows out of embarrassment.

“Fine,” Nico managed to stammer out. He flashed a look at Hazel.  _ Help. Me. _

“Just fine?”

“Oh my gods, Dad.” Nico buried his face in his hand. Luckily for him, Hazel decided to take pity on him and change the subject.

“How have things been going down here?” She asked, amusement lingering in her voice. “Now that that whole doors of death business is wrapped up, is there anything even left to do?”

“There’s always something left to do down here,” Hades replied. “The spirits of the dead are always looking for another hidden pathway to escape to the upper world through. It’s all we can do to chase down their tunnels and seal them up. And, of course, the souls in Elysium always want something new to be built or renovated or demolished…” Hades sighed. “I was going to show you this earlier, but I’m afraid my job isn’t quite as glamorous as tossing lightning bolts from the sky or sinking ships. Most of what I do every day is just listen to the dead complain.”

“Yeah, your job does kind of suck,” Nico agreed. “I mean, you don’t even get to be the one to kill people. That would at least be more fun.”

“Nico!” Hazel laughed even as she scolded him.

“I just mean comparatively! But you don’t even get to do that, that’s Thanatos’ thing. You just have to deal with public works projects and overpopulation problems.”

“At least you get a castle,” Hazel said.

“Yeah, but all gods get a castle,” Nico said. “All the major ones, anyway.”

“Now maybe you can understand better why I was so eager to get back at my brothers,” Hades said. “If I could only get some leverage, I might be able to convince them to give me a better job.”

“Is that even possible?” Hazel asked. “I thought gods were fueled by the belief of mortals. For most mortals, your name is synonymous with the Underworld. Is it even possible for you to change what you do, without a new myth or something to sway the beliefs of mortals?”

Hades stared at Hazel. “I may have underestimated you, daughter,” he said slowly. Hazel blinked at him, shocked. A spike of jealousy ran through Nico, but he pushed it down. “However,” Hades continued, “Gods have in the past adjusted what they do. Iris, for example, doesn’t even facilitate the Iris messages anymore. She shifted those duties to her assistant, so that she would be free to do… well, whatever it is she’s doing now.” He straightened his golden fork on the table. “It is possible for gods to adjust their duties, as long as we get creative with it.”

“So do it, then,” Nico said. “What do you need the approval of Poseidon and Zeus for?”

“My brothers control more than you know,” Hades said. “It would be difficult to change much of anything without them, well…”

“Throwing a tantrum?” Hazel offered.

“Yes.” Hades smiled at her, and a flare of jealousy ran through Nico again. He pushed it down once more.

“I think the Olympians will throw a tantrum whether you have ‘leverage’ or not,” Nico said. “That’s kind of all they do, actually.”

Hazel snickered, but hid it behind her hand. “Nico, you’re going to get yourself killed.”

“You really think they can hear us all the way down here?” Nico asked.

“Well, I guess probably not.”

The dinner went on even after the food was eaten, with conversation and stories being passed between Hazel and Nico. Hades was still just as steely and distant as ever-- Nico wasn’t sure if he was even listening to what they were saying half the time-- but still, if Nico was being honest, he did feel like he understood his father a little better now. And from the way Hades had praised Hazel, Nico thought that maybe he was learning to understand his children, too. If that was all the point of today was, then Nico thought it might have actually been… a success.


End file.
